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Couple of years ago, I came to know about the Alternate Finance Market from the study by Nefta.

Alternate finance is growing at a significant pace in UK. The alternate finance platforms are evolving into alternate investment platforms.

Peer-to-Peer lending is the largest piece of this pie. I had a very personal experience last week with this model of financing. I applied for a personal loan for £10000 form 2 high street lenders.

1. HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland) - My request for loan was refused.

2. HSBC - The loan application was approved but they were willing to give loan at the rate of 7.9% APR and not the advertised rate of 3.3% APR.

I was not happy, so I wanted to try peer to peer (P2P) lender. I am purposefully skipping the name of the online P2P lender.

My loan application was immediately approved by the P2P lender with 3.9% APR and the money was in my bank account in the next working day.

It is worth noting that I have had bank accounts with both the high street banks for last 8 to 9 years. I approached above 3 lenders on a single afternoon & there was NO change in my financial circumstances.

Banks have a very big problem, yes - it’s their survival problem. Especially with over banking with lot of branches, they will have deeper trouble if they don't lend easily.

I am convinced that the Peer-to-peer lending is here to stay. Next time when you want to borrow money, it’s worth checking out a P2P lender for a quote.